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Storm damaged my garden tonight

post #1 of 30
7/8/11 at 7:43pm
Thread Starter 
I'm so sad. I'm off to Walmart to try to find more tomato supports. Just before 7 tonight we had a severe thunderstorm roll through with really high winds. I got all my garden work done before anything came near but I didn't water, hoping the rain would do it for me. Well it sure did!

It took over an hour for most of the thunder/lighting to leave the area. Both my tomato plants were pushed down. The supports were literally bent at the ground on at least one of them!! I managed to get my cherry tomato one untangled from the other full sized one and get it back upright. The other one has some broken limbs that have small, unripe tomatoes on them. I got it up more; but not all the way. In falling it fanned all the branches out so I'm going to look for something to help hold it back up. I was standing out there in the pouring rain and it did rumble a few times too!

Anyone know if there is a way to bandage broken branches? I'm really so sad. My zucchini took a beating but I think it will be ok. I'm not sure how the cucumbers did since they are all intertwined with the summer squash and zucchini too. My bush beans (which I just got my first harvest off tonight before the storm) were under the zucchini so I didn't get a good look at those yet. I picked my first tomato tonight too.

So I got my first tomato today and my first beans and I'm praying that is not the last of it. I know some of us have been discussing our gardens and some of you know what a big deal this is for me...now this.
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post #2 of 30
7/8/11 at 8:05pm
Awwwww that sucks
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post #3 of 30
7/8/11 at 8:59pm
Is the actually stock broke, or just branches? If the stock itself is broke, it may be a lost cause, but if it's the branches they may still have a fighting chance. There's really no way to repair broken limbs, but they may repair themselves. Wait a few days and see if any start to turn brown. If they do, just cut them off and a new limb will probably grow. The Squash should be fine. They can take a beating and not really be affected from what I've seen with mine (groundhogs, no leaves left, torrential rain, and still producing). The beans, I can't say but if they are protected by they squash leaves they should be fine. The cucumbers should be fine because they are so low to the ground. As long as you didn't get hail that beat the crap out of them they should be good to go.

We have wire cones around most of our tomato plants and that helps with the wind. I'm not sure where you can get them...MIL used them for years and we just borrowed them but they have spikes about 5 inches deep that anchor them and the wind just goes right through them. I'll see if I can find out where to get them so that may help with the wind issues.
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post #4 of 30
7/8/11 at 9:18pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks Hope! I have the cage like supports that surround them; but I probably should have gotten a bigger size! All I could find at Walmart are these 3' stake ones. They aren't as tall as my plants; but they might do the trick to add some support to those lower branches. I think it's just branches; the main stalk seemed ok. I guess if all else fails I can tie some twine around the stalk and tether it back in the other direction with a tent stake or something like that. Or find some wood at lowes or something.

Summer isn't half over and I've already got lots of changes planned for next years garden!
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post #5 of 30
7/9/11 at 8:32am
All of our tomato plants are bigger then the wire cones, if a few lower branches won't go through the wire that's fine. It's mainly to protect the stalk. If you steak them, use pantyhose instead of twine, because it has more give and expands as the plant grows. Twine might constrict it and keep the nutrients from going though the plant.

I can understand your heartbreak though. We haven't had major "mother nature" issues, but we're still dealing with groundhogs. I get so frustrated and depressed every time we water the garden. I can't see where they are getting in, but things are still being eaten. NO leaves on our cucumbers, very little leaves left on our squash, beans are gone, so are lettuce and cabbage. But our tomatoes and pepper plants are going strong and we should have a butt load in a few weeks. And I've gotten 4 good squash with more to pick, and there are loads of blooms on the cucumber plants, so I don't know if we should suspect something from them or not. Wait and see??
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post #6 of 30
7/9/11 at 8:41am
oh no!.......
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post #7 of 30
7/9/11 at 10:35am
Thread Starter 
Aw that stinks Hope. Something has been messing with the blooms on my squash but I'm still getting enough of them. We are considering removing one or two because they have burried my carrots now; which are in the next section of the bed. Crazy!

I haven't been out back yet today. I overslept and we have to go somewere so I'm not wanting to get sweaty. Although at this rate I'm ready to throw in the towel... (with our plans, not our garden!)
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post #8 of 30
7/9/11 at 12:03pm
Aww, sorry the storm beat up your tomatoes!! I hope with the extra supports, they'll be ok. They should be ok as long as they're not snapped in half or anything. I didn't even use the cones on my tomatoes, I guess I kind of forgot how big the plants can get, so I had some 2 ft. bamboo stakes and tied them loosely with twine. Then they grew a lot, too big to shove into the cones at this point, so I went and bought 4 ft. stakes and gathered the rambling vines and tied them up again with more twine. Loosely though, so I wouldn't strangle them. And now, a few weeks later, they're getting pretty unruly again. I'm getting about 2 handfuls (a pint or so?) of cherry tomatoes A DAY. However, my beans are puny. I've gotten maybe 10 total over the past few months. I'll trade some tomatoes for some beans!!

Hope it all works out!!
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post #9 of 30
7/9/11 at 3:17pm
I definitely feel your pain! We had a major storm come thru almost 2 weeks ago and my flower garden took a huge beating. Makes me want to cry every time I look at it.

I only have 1 tomato plant this year, but I've actually pruned them in the past when they've gotten too long and leggy. It never seemed to hurt them. Maybe you can just trim off the broken stems --- and cross your fingers.
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post #10 of 30
7/9/11 at 6:15pm
What you can do is buy rebar at home depot or a building center. Push/hammer it into the soil close to the main stem of the plant. Cut old pantyhose into strips-fairly long and two people may be needed, tie the stem of the plant to the stake. For the broken limbs you may want to pinch tem back a ways to take the weight of of them so they do not break completely off.
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post #11 of 30
7/9/11 at 8:01pm
That just stinks! I hope they're not lost. Sometimes Mother Nature is not nice to us gardeners.
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post #12 of 30
7/9/11 at 8:33pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you all! I went out this afternoon and I was able to untangle some branches and I used the 4 supports I got to prop up larger sections. Most of it is upright now. I left the broken parts alone pretty much. I'm just going to keep an eye on them. I hope at least the unbroken parts make it because there are a lot of tomatoes on there!!
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post #13 of 30
7/10/11 at 1:32pm
Well, that bites little green worms!

I'm glad you were able to get the plants supported OK. And hopefully, those branches will be OK.

We had a similar thing here with wind and rain the other night. But only two of our tomato plants went down. We were able to take extra fencing, some posts, and ties and managed to get them up again. We're keeping a close eye on them, too.

Good luck!
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post #14 of 30
7/10/11 at 3:47pm
DH wanted something like this for his tomatoes.
http://www.burpee.com/gardening-supp...tml?catId=2320
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post #15 of 30
7/10/11 at 3:51pm
Oh that is so lousy... . Mother nature has taken her wrath out on alot of our gardens lately......
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post #16 of 30
7/10/11 at 9:23pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crazyforinfo View Post
DH wanted something like this for his tomatoes.
http://www.burpee.com/gardening-supp...tml?catId=2320
Oh those look cool! They look like they would do a better job once you get them upright again. Next year I'm at least buying bigger supports!!

This weather has not been kind to a newbie! Some of my zucchini look like they were trampled; but they are still producing big fruit. DH just pulled another huge one out tonight and a few medium sized ones. Anyone feel like grating some up for zucchini bread for me?
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post #17 of 30
7/11/11 at 6:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles View Post
Anyone feel like grating some up for zucchini bread for me?
We just got four really nice zucchini over the weekend. (And two cukes) I'm going to be grating some for bread. Bring yours down and we'll do them together!

I used one of the cukes in Fire and Ice Tomatoes....cucumbers and tomato wedges with onion slices in a pickling solution. Yum! I need to make some zucchini bread and some muffins now.
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post #18 of 30
7/11/11 at 9:53am
Thread Starter 
Yum! I have a ton of flowers on my cucumbers but no fruit from it yet. I got a big bag of HUGE cucumbers from a lady at my church a few weeks ago and we used them in a cuc salad. Just cucumbers, thinly sliced vidalia onion and I mixed up a vinegar dressing with cider vinegar and a handful of spices and man it was goooooood! Love doing that! So tasty!! A yogurt/dill sauce on them is great too!!
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post #19 of 30
7/11/11 at 11:39am
I'm so proud of you for making this garden, and for not letting the storm deter you one iota. More pictures coming soon?
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post #20 of 30
7/11/11 at 6:57pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks Carol. I can snap a few pics tomorrow. I'm currently watching another line of storms approach. We are under a sever thunderstorm warning. I'm praying it fizzles out some. I'm ok with rain; just praying it doesn't have the wind and what not the last one did!

I have one small cucumber now and I saw quite a few tiny ones starting to form out there! I got my second tomato today and ate it within a couple hours of picking. I gave DH a slice and he said it really does taste different than what we get in the store. My daughter ate a bunch up too! So yummy!!
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post #21 of 30
7/18/11 at 1:56pm
Thread Starter 
I finally took a few pics of the garden. My zucchini have mostly bounced back. It appears I am loosing one summer squash. The good news is my tomatoes seem to be ok! I've been harvesting a few ripe ones every couple of days and the broken branches are still green! Some are still on the ground though. I have quite a few supports put in there. I just finally added 2 tall stakes yesterday. One of the stakes is outside the garden; but it's doing it's job so far.

I still can't believe how big the summer squash and zucchini are...


My cherry tomatoes. The other plant is leaning on them some now; but they seem to be ok that way.


Now here you can see the supports I added. Whatever works I guess.




I'm starting to get cucumbers! YUM!
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post #22 of 30
7/18/11 at 1:58pm
Your garden is still looking GREAT! I'm glad the storm didn't do too much lasting damage.
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post #23 of 30
7/18/11 at 2:15pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks! Me too; I was sooo upset standing in my kitchen watching it all and feeling helpless!
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post #24 of 30
7/19/11 at 2:05am
So wonderful to watch things grow! If only it weren't so hot here... you're inspiring me! Maybe I'll try planting a winter garden this fall...
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post #25 of 30
7/19/11 at 5:29am
Cool! It looks fantastic! Your little cukes are cute!

We are getting a lot of summer squash and zucchini, cucumbers (I'm telling you, make some Fire and Ice Tomatoes!), lots of green beans that I'm blanching and freezing. And broccoli. We took the main flower off the broccoli plants, cut them, blanched them, and froze them. Now we're waiting for the little flowerets to start growing off the main stem. The shoulders of my red beets are just barely starting to poke out of the ground, so it won't be long before I can pick beets for the freezer. The corn is tassling nicely, so it shouldn't be too long before we'll have fresh corn, too.

One thing that's very strange. We have a ton of tomatoes on our vines. Lots of support for them. But they're not turning red. They're not really turning much of anything. I know the Lemon Boy tomatoes are supposed to turn yellow. But nothing. We've had sun, we've been feeding with tomato food, and we've been watering. But they're just kind of hanging there. I read that tomatoes won't turn red if the temperature gets above 86 degrees and it's been right around there. This week, we're into the 90s. I don't know if I should just pick some and let them ripen in the kitchen or what to do. I don't want to lose them. They're nice and firm, but there's just no color.
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post #26 of 30
7/19/11 at 6:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Winchester View Post
One thing that's very strange. We have a ton of tomatoes on our vines. Lots of support for them. But they're not turning red. They're not really turning much of anything. I know the Lemon Boy tomatoes are supposed to turn yellow. But nothing. We've had sun, we've been feeding with tomato food, and we've been watering. But they're just kind of hanging there. I read that tomatoes won't turn red if the temperature gets above 86 degrees and it's been right around there. This week, we're into the 90s. I don't know if I should just pick some and let them ripen in the kitchen or what to do. I don't want to lose them. They're nice and firm, but there's just no color.
Same here; I didn't know about them not turning if the temp is too high (and believe me, here the temp is WAY too high). Hope someone can shed some light on whether to pick them or not.
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post #27 of 30
7/19/11 at 11:25am
Thread Starter 
I didn't know that either! The ones I've been getting are down low; closer to the ground. Most of mine are green. Same with my cherry tomatoes! Hmm.... It's been in the 90s here. Annoying hot.

Strange question...are bush beans supposed to have a velvety texture on the outside? They aren't prickily; but they aren't smooth either.
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post #28 of 30
7/19/11 at 2:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles View Post
Strange question...are bush beans supposed to have a velvety texture on the outside? They aren't prickily; but they aren't smooth either.
I don't know what variety my parents grew, but they did feel velvety on the outside. I haven't had home-grown beans in years; that sounds so good.
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post #29 of 30
7/20/11 at 5:17am
I have frozen about 4 quarts of green beans thus far, and we have to pick again tonight. Ours are smooth; they're a bush bean, might be Blue Lake? Blue something? I'll have to ask DH.

Something ate a stalk of corn! A whole stalk! Just chewed that puppy right down to the ground. DH saw it this morning. We're thinking probably a deer as a raccoon would have smashed the fence. And a bear would have been very messy. This one stalk was just chewed right off. Great, just great. We have ears of corn now and that darn deer is going to get them. Our fence is about four feet high; heck, a deer can reach right over that.
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post #30 of 30
7/20/11 at 4:29pm
Thread Starter 
Oh no! I'd be mad!!

This might sound funny; but I've been afraid to cook the beans because of the fuzziness. It feels weird on my finger so how will it feel in my mouth/throat? I have a handful to cook up and probably some more ready. I have to lift the zucchini leaves to find them; so I'm just glad I'm getting some at all! Next year I'm hoping to make another raised bed for just the summer squash and zucchini.

Oh! I did a zucchini pie (not a pie, but baked in a pie dish) the other night and it was soooo goood! There were no leftovers! It called for a chopped tomato too; so I also got to make it with one of my own tomatoes! (Fresh corn is also an ingredient but I just used some canned....fresh would be better.)
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